Setoguchi “cramped up” and could play in finale, Thornton’s thoughts on reaching the 1,000 mark

GLENDALE, Ariz. — This will be extremely quick because I’ve got an adult beverage and a bite to eat on the table here.

But a couple things to pass along after that game and a story for the print edition that tried to go two directions at once — Joe Thornton hits milestone but teams loses chance to nail down that No. 2 seed and the chance for the luxury of a meaningless game.

Here’s the news:

Todd McLellan didn’t try to completely hide what happened to Devin Setoguchi before the game.

“Seto went out in warm-up and cramped up,” the coach said at the end of his post-game scrum. “There’s nothing you can do about it. No one expected it to happen. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

Do you expect him to be in the lineup?

“I would hope so, but we’ll get him home and see how it is.”

Also, Joe Thornton did offer his first thoughts on reaching the 1,000 point mark, though it obviously came in a setting other than the one he would have picked if he could have picked. After initially sort of shrugging it off, he had this to say:

“You have to be blessed with a good supporting cast and luckily I’ve been blessed with a lot of good friends and family and good linemates and good players to play along. There’s so many different variables that go into getting that many points.”

****I could get into what Douglas Murray had to say about his night, but let’s just leave it at the fact he’s not any happier about his play than the coach was. Though McLellan didn’t mention Murray or anyone else by name, the print edition has a quote that leaves little doubt the big defenseman was on the list for failing to get the puck out of the zone on Phoenix’s first goal.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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Thanks David. Clowe sounds a bit more seriously injured than the others, but I’m really hoping everyone is healthy by the start of the playoffs next week.

Way to go Joe on 1000!

Sharkz

Midol, Seto. My wife says it works great.

spooky

first i thought seto could play in the finals. so no play offs for him.
had to look at it twice.

congrats to Thornton to his 1000 point. i hope he can celebrate that a little bit today.

and on more note: I hope we get to play chicago in first round. get it out of our system.

PLOVER WI JP

Say again about Seto, Spooky?

Don’t understand your Seto comment or your desire to play Chicago.

Hard to compare the Sharks, who have a spot locked up, with teams hanging by a playoff thread.

Nevertheless, Sharks are not trending well, considering who is supposedly playing and those on the sidelines. JP

SHARKS-ALL-THE-WAY!

I’d actuallly like the Hawks 1st round! The way I see it, we need to have some faith in our Sharks ability to get the job done in the PO. Yes Hawks would be very challenging, but It would be sweet payback from last year. Keep the Faith Sharks fans!

Left Coast Black Hawks

As much talent as the Sharks have they always seem to stumble in the P.O.
the Black Hawks are hungry albeit much less talented on paper. Don’t think the Ducks are out of it either.This may be the Sharks year but once the game starts heating up with heavy checks the Sharks just begin to fold, can’t sustain a prolonged series with physical play. Let’s hope for the best but right now let’s not worry about the Black Hawks other wise I’ll see you all on the links!

Mac

We don’t lose these last 2, we could have been 2 seed overall, now we are 5 overall and dropping. Aside from the fact we suddenly seem to be back to the same losing form as a couple of months ago going into the playoffs, should we still get to the SC final (optimistic) it’s less likely we could be the home team.
Yes, 24-6-4 is still pretty good, hopefully it’s another wake-up call to the team how they have to play in the playoffs, and not a longer trend. Need a focused turnaround game tonight!!!!

Mac

I don’t think it’s the heavy checks, it’s the start of the game, not ready and focused on dictating the pace, tone and energy of the game right from the start.
Being aggressive, the first to the puck, taking the other team out of their rhythm, making them play more in their own end, instead of starting passive, tentative, responding instead of dictating, reactive not assertive play, a step slow leading to penalties, lack of offense, goals against, and playing from behind.

NickG

Mac why do you care what position the team is in the league during the playoffs? The only position that matters is their seeding in the West. They’ll only face one Eastern conference team. Even if they finish behind Pitt in the regular season overall points race, they’ll be seeded higher than them in the playoffs because they finished in a higher position in the conference and therefore got a higher seeding in the playoffs.

NickG

@Cup4Sharks (previous thread): Glad I wasn’t the only one to be a bit put-off by the booing by the Coyotes fans. Maybe when teams/players/tv crews say we are the classiest fans in the league, they aren’t just saying it to give us a hummer. Maybe we are truly the classiest.

Mac

Yes, going 24-4-4, and from 12th, finally to the 2, no lower then the 3 seed, you might have a slight letdown of intensity, a little relaxation of focus.
Certainly compared to desperate teams still maybe only one loss from being out of the playoffs.
Just disappointing that after the Ana humbling, there was not a better start to the next game. Det playing even worse eases impact.

Mac

NickG,
I’m thinking, the SC is seeded by overall league standing, which certainly comes in to play if a 1 meets 1 or 2-2, 3-3 etc., but maybe
I’m wrong about a 3,4,5.. with more points meeting a 2 or 3 with less.

Like to see a better bounce back game tonight.

paul

can someone tell me why niemi’s nickname is nemo?

good news for seto by the way.

hockster

Sharks finish second if
1) they win tonight
2) lose in OT or SO, and Detroit wins in SO
3) lose in reg, Detroit loses in reg.
4) lose in reg, Detroit loses in OT or SO.

Any other combination: Detroit is second.

Why?
In 1) and 3) the Sharks will have more points.
In 2) both will have 104 points, 42 non-shootout victories, but Sharks won season series.
In 4) both will have 103 points, otherwise same as 2)

4th to 8th place is equally complicated.

All other combinations Detroit is second

Doug E. Fresh

My friend was at the game last night and said it looked like Seto pulled a hamstring pretty bad in warm-ups right in front of her.

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